Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I was a proud Copy Cat

When I saw the focaccia that Alan of travellingfoodies made last Sunday , I have been dreaming about it for a few nights. You see, she is not only an eloquent writer but also a very artistic photographer. Any simple food that goes through his camera will come out as 5 stars cuisine. Don’t just listen to me, hop over to her blog and see for yourself. Oh remember to read her notes on personal reflection at the end of each recipe. Those notes are informative and educational. I learn a lot from them. One of the many things I like about food bloggers are their willingness to share whatever knowledge they have about cooking, baking and other lessons they learned with no monetary benefits in mind. They are not the "No Money, No Talk" type.

So, here I am, The Copycat! I adapted Alan's focaccia recipe and made it with some modification yesterday. When it was in the oven, my whole house was filled with the aroma of rosemary. I could smell the fragrance from my office (my office is in my home) and heard my stomach growling. I went in to look at the bread several times as though the more I looked, the quicker it would baked. Finally, the moment I anxiously waited had arrived. "DING!", it was the oven bell! I dropped whatever I was doing in the office and rushed to get the bread out. GORGEOUS! Grinning from ear to ear, I came back to the office to tell my Quay Lo that I was extremely happy with the look and the taste of my focaccia. I want to say a BIG thank you to Alan for sharing this recipe and for the effort in writing easy to follow instructions that even this simple minded Quay Po can follow. Aren't you proud of me?

We had focaccia sandwiches for dinner last evening. Quay Lo and I loved the bread so much and we both agreed that we will make this again for company. This bread is so easy to make, it looks inviting and taste wonderful. Honestly, you can just eat as is, without anything else to compliment it.. Whoa!! It was DIVINE!

In a glass of 50ml warm water, stir in yeast and sugar and set aside for 30 mins. Place two sprigs of rosemary and garlic clove with skin into the olive oil on medium heat till fragrant and set aside. When the oil is cool, remove the rosemary and dish out the garlic, removed the skin and minced them and set aside. In a mixing bowl, place bread flour, salt and mix roughly. Add yeast mixture, 2 tablespoons of chopped rosemary and garlic rosemary infused olive oil and 150 ml warm water. Use the hook attachment on low speed, mix the ingredients until a sticky dough is formed. Turn the speed to medium and knead the dough with a mixer until it is less sticky. Turn to slightly higher speed to knead that dough till they no longer sticks to the sides of the mixing bowl and comes off in one smooth lump. Pull a small piece of dough and stretch it and if you can stretch the dough till very thin and does not break easily, you can now form the dough into a ball and cover with cling wrap. Leave it in a warm area and let it rise for 1 hour, about double its original size. Apply some flour on the surface to roll out the dough to get rid of air. Sprinkle, sun-dried tomatoes, half of the olive rings, minced roasted garlic and roasted capsicum. into dough and knead them in. Place the dough onto a 8 in x 8 in square baking pan and flatten it outwards by pressing with your fingertips to fill up the pan. Cover again with cling film and leave to prove for another 30 mins. Dip an index finger into olive oil and make dimples about 1 inches apart all around the dough. Brush the top generously with olive oil and arrange the remaining olive rings Sprinkle rosemary leaves on the surface. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for 20-25 min until the surface becomes golden brown. Leave on rack to cool. Apply your creativity on how to serve the bread or just eat them as it is.

Hi tQ for dropping by. Bananaz knows nuts about woking, baking etc but only can kaypo *busybody*. Cant even handle a flying egg while frying it hahaha. Why*Ask*Why it has to do with cat in copycat when we often hear 'monkey see, monkey do'? Guess copymonkey would be too long? muahaha.

My dear, You are one of the best food photographers I've seen.That is why I follow your blog, even though I have food allergies and cannot eat a lot of the foods you prepare. I love to look. (and sometimes adjust recipes so I can eat them.) But mostly, I just love to look at your food pictures. Such an eye!

Thank you for being such a nice "copy cat" and to share this amazing focaccia. I can tell you one thing though...I will not be slicing all those Spanish olives, because we have them already sliced...LOLYour focaccia turned out gorgeous, spongy, and delcious. I will visit the original "cat"...LOL...and I will also want to be another "copy cat" to make this fabulous focaccia:D

Veronica, I have made this type of bread before and absolutely loved it. It was one of the first types of bread that Valerie from A Canadian Foodie had taught me. Yours looks much yummier than mine. Love the addition of the black olives and sundried tomatoes. I could just eat this as is.

LeQuan: You are so lucky, you have Valerie to teach you how to make the bread. I wish stay near you guys and can join in the fun.

Echo's Kitchen: Thanks for dropping by and love such a nice comment.

Alan: Thanks so much. It means a lot when a compliment comes from you:D

Elisabeth: HUGS! Good to see you and I just visited your blog and find that you and family had a wonderful father's day!. Life is good isn't it?

daphne: You are right! Copy and learn, fail and try again.

wendycooks: it is so kind of you to say that but I am really just an amateur photographer. I am learning from all my food blogger friends but slowly and surely I see improvement in my photos. Me too, I love looking at beautiful and mouth watering food photos.

Jeannie: Oh please! you will love it.

Mom: Many thanks for your visit. I am delighted to hear that you will visit me often.

Bananaz: hahaha, you are so funny, ya,ya, there is no cat in copycat and it is a fact the money see money do so in this case I am the Monkey! hehehe

i just noticed that you changed your profile photo..look good both of you! i just saw the photo in quaylo's blog.first of all, can i ask something? is alan a he or a she? i'm laughing when i type this question out..sshh..never mind, i think i better ask alan in his/her blog!haha! i've seen alan's foccacia earlier, really beautiful and yours look just as great as alan's. btw, your photographs are also as excellent as alan's..both of you..in chinese we say 'poon kan 8 leong!'

MY 1ST COOKING VIDEO

SUBSCRIBE TO QUAY PO COOKS

Follow by Email

LIKE MY PAGE

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, FOLLOW ME:D

RECENT 5 POSTS

TOTAL PAGE VIEWS SINCE JAN 2011

MEET QUAY PO

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.

You made my day!

AWARDS

I wish to thank those who have given me AWARDS. I feel really honored and thankful to you all. I have decided not to display the awards in my blog or pass it on because I feel it is impossible for me to pass it on to all the deserving blogs. They are so many and I do not feel comfortable leaving anyone out. I hope you appreciate how I feel. Once again Thanks a Million for thinking of me.